How Much Does It Cost To Self Publish A Book

To publish a book, you must consider various factors and your needs. You will have to jot down your budget that aligns with your requirements once you are done with the research on the average costs in your locality and genre. 

Moreover, you must consider the quality of the book that you want to publish. If you want to publish a high-end book, your costs will go up. 

On average, you will spend $2000 to $4000 while self-publishing your book. 

“How much does it cost to self-publish your book?” can be quickly answered if you break down your costs according to your requirement. 

However, We have broken down the costs for you after researching by contacting and communicating with the people who have already self-published their books.

Above all, our detailed article will help you answer various questions you have related to self-publishing your book and clear your doubts.

You can look at the detailed breakdown of our quote for self-publishing your book.

 What’s more? Let’s begin a journey of self-publishing your book.

Why Self-Publish A Book?

If you are planning to write a fictional book and you have the belief that you will get readers for your book even if you self-publish it, then you should definitely do it. If you don’t believe in your potential and store, then it is a good idea to go the traditional route and publish your book in a famous publication.

But self-publishing works really well for those who write non-fiction. The reason behind this is that your story is either based on true events or inspired by true events, and there is a high chance that you will get good readers for your book. It will also build authority in the market. The first thing you should do is freewrite your book and then find your target audience. Before publishing the book, get the opinion of good authors and make changes in your draft accordingly.

The Average Cost of Publishing a Book: In a Nutshell

If you are in a hurry, you can look at the table and add up your costs.

Steps	Average Cost
Book Editing	$800 to $2000
Designing	$300 to $ 1500
Formatting	$200 to $500
Marketing	$50 to $300
Additional costs	$300 to $500

Steps to Publish Your Book and Their Average Costs

Self-publishing your book requires a significant investment of time, effort, and money compared to the traditional method. You must know the person to do the work or have enough contacts to get your job done on a budget and to the point.

We have broken down the average costs required in different steps of self-publishing a book. The amount may vary with the time and location. 

1. Book Editing

Once you have completed the writing journey of your book, you need to gather it all together to present it in a proper format for readers to buy and read it.

The first step towards successful self-publishing of your book after writing is editing. Editing comprises editorial assessment, developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading.

The editorial assessment is usually required if you are a newbie to writing or aren’t confident enough about your book. You can skip the editorial assessment if you don’t need it. 

Here you will generally need to spend around $500 to $700, depending on the length of your book. However, according to Reedsy, the estimated cost is about $1000 to $1200 for a word count of 60,000. 

Developmental editing helps you with the suggestions and edits in a manuscript if you cannot further drag your big picture in the proper direction. It may cost you up to $700 to $1200 with a friendly budget. It may cost up to $2000 if you want to deliver your book on a more professional level. According to Reedsy, $1704 is the average cost. 

You can surely avoid spending on these two parts of editing as most writers prefer to go with copyediting and proofreading.

Copy editing focuses on the sentence level and flow of information. Usually, it will require an average expenditure of $500 to $1000, depending upon the length and genre of your book. Of course, if you want it to be a great professional level, it may cost up to $2000 or $ 3000. For 60000 words, Reesdsy quotes up to $1300.

Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process. A proofreader reviews the entire manuscript, checks for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, and makes suggestions according to the requirements. Depending on the content, it

will cost you around $300 to $500. With a high budget, it will extend up to $ 800 to $1000. However, as suggested by Reedsy, the average cost of proofreading 60000 words cost up to $888. 

On average, copyediting and proofreading may cost you around $ 800 to $1200. As suggested by Reedsy, it ranges around $131.

Editing	Approximate cost
Editorial Assessment	$500 to $700
Developmental editing	$700 to $1200
Copy editing	$500 to $1000
Proofreading	$300 to $ 500

Various factors such as genre, state of the manuscript, the density of the text, and the level of your writing experience affect the charges’ ranges. You will need to consider the minute details of your manuscript before budgeting and selecting the proper packages.

2. Designing the Cover Page and Interior of the book 

Once the editing of your book is sorted, you have to take care of the appearance of your book. The cover page must be appealing to attract readers. Also, the interior of the book must be well taken care of.

The cover page may cost you around $300 to $1000, depending on the design of your cover page. Factors such as the style and complexity of the design, iterations to choose the perfect design, and formats in which the book will be released (i.e., e-book, paperback, or hardcover) affect the cost of your cover page. Besides, the designer’s experience will also create a difference in his expenses. According to Reedsy cover page will cost you around $750.

Moreover, the book’s interior is also one of the essential aspects to be taken care of. You may have various graphics, images, and illustrations inside. You will need to hire a designer for that work as well. The interior graphics of your book may cost you $50 to $500 on average. 

Interior and the book cover can be assigned together with an average of $400 to $1000 to a designer.

3. Formatting a Book

The manuscript needed to be adjusted with the margins, paragraphs, font style, font size, etc. Also, the images, graphics, and illustrations must be appropriately modified with the text. You can hire a professional and spend approximately $200 to $500 on average for the proper presentation of your book.

Formatting your book can be also done with the help of free apps and software available.

Reedsy presents an average of $500 for the formatting of a book. You can also prefer to hire a professional who can format and edit your manuscript together based on the requirements. 

4. Marketing

Once you are done with the manuscript, you will need to look after the advertising and marketing of your book to make its place in the market. 

You will have to work on editorial reviews, campaigns, email advertising, etc. Marketing requires your efforts and time to be invested, along with the money. You can either hire a professional book marketer or work on it yourself.

Considering the approximate cost of marketing, you will have to at least spend an average of around $50 to $300, depending on your needs and reach. 

5. Additional Necessities

You will also need to spend on some minor things while considering the cost of self-publishing your book: expenses such as ISBNs, copyrights, etc. ISBN will cost you around $250 for 10 and 1 for $125. Apart from that, you will have to invest approximately $55 in copyrights.  

Above all, you can sum up extra charges to $300 to 500. 

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Conclusion: It Costs $2000-$3000 to Self Publish A Book

Self-publishing a book can be great when you have access to contacts who will help you with your budget and services. You can also lookout for freelancers who can offer you excellent services within your budget.

Moreover, an average of $ 2000 to 6000, including all the extra expenses and royalties, is what you will spend when working with the self-publishing of your book.

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